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MEMORIAL 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE 



UFON THB DBATU OF 



HON. ALEMNDER E. PATTON, 



LATE A SENATOR FROM THE THIRTY-FOURTH DISTRICT 



PENNSVLVANIA. 






HAHRISBURO, PA.: 

HARBISBURG PUBLISBINCi CO., BTATS PRINTXR. 






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RESOLUTION. 



In the Senate, 
February 7, 1905. 
Resolved, (if the House of Representatives concur), That one thou- 
sand (1,000) copies of the memorial services, held in honor of the late 
Honorable Alexander B. Patton, be printed for the use of the Senate. 

FRANK A. JUDD, 
Chief Clerk of the Senate. 

The foregoing resolution concurred in February 8, 1905. 

THOMAS H. GARVIN, 

Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives. 

Approved— The 14th day of February, A. D. 1905. 

SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. 



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PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE 



UPON THB DEATH OF 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 



In the Senate, 
Tuesday, January 24, 1905. 

On motion of Senator Shepard, the following resolution was twice 
read, considered and agreed to, viz: 

Resolved, That a committee of nine members of the Senate be ap- 
pointed to draft suitable resolutions and prepare a programme for 
memorial exercises on the death of the late Senator John T. Harrison, 
of Philadelphia, who died on December eighteenth, one thousand nine 
hundred and three; of the late Senator Alexander E. Patton, who died 
September fifth, one thousand nine hundred and four, and upon the 
late Edwin W. Smiley, Chief Clerk, who died September seventh, one 
thousand nine hundred and four, and that a special meeting of the 
Senate be held Tuesday, February seventh, one thousand nine hundred 
and five, at two o'clock post meridian, to which said resolutions be 
submitted and the programme carried out. 



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MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS AND ADDRESSES. 



In the Senate, 
Tuesday, February 7, 1905. 

Afternoon Session. 

Pursuant to adjournment the Senate was called to order at 
two o'clock P. M., Lieutenant Governor Brown in the chair. 

The PRESIDENT. The session this afternoon is held for 
the purpose of doing honor to the late Alexander E. Patton, 
a member of the Senate from the county of Clearfield. 

PRAYER. 

Prayer was offered by the Chaplain, Reverend J. Wesley 
Sullivan, as follows: 

O, Lord, our God, Thou dost lead us in marvelous and 
wonderful ways, and at this time Thou dost bring us into the 
face of death, for those whose hands used to grasp at ours and 
whose faces used to look into our own are now silent in the 
grave beneath the v.dnter snow. In Thy providence they 
have been taken away from us. They have gone down the 
valley, the deep, dark valley, we shall see their faces no more 
until we pass down the valley, the deep, dark valley and meet 
them on the other shore. 

Thou art teaching us that in the midst of life we are in 
death, and though we may realize the activity of life and there 
may be no indication of our weakness or of the death that 
awaits us, nevertheless, O God, we realize by these lessons 
that we are passing away and sooner or later we must stand 
in Thy presence at the bar of judgment to render to Thee 
an account of our stewardship, for we realize that the places 
that now know us shall soon know us no more forever. 

Our desire and our prayer is that when Thv messenger 

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MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



shall come to us that we may be ready; forbid that any of us 
should put off this great question, the preparation for the 
life that is beyond, and that death should meet us unprepared 
for this great change, help us by Thy grace and by Thy 
sustaining power to so live that we may have no fear, and 
we pray especially for the homes where death has come, where 
there are the widows and the beloved children, those who 
at this time look to this service being held here in memory of 
their beloved who have left them, we ask Thee that in their 
hearts of sorrow and bereavement may come Thy special 
blessing and comfort. 

Bless us now, lead them and us by Thy presence so that 
when w^e are taken from this earthly home we may all go to 
that home not made by hands eternal in the heavens. 

We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. 

Mr. SHEPAlvD. Mr. President, as a member of this 
committee appointed to express the sense of this body on the 
death of Alexander Ennis Patton, late a member of this 
Senate of the Twenty-fourth district, I present the following 
resolutions : 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Whereas, Our brother. Senator Alexander Ennis Patton, 
a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania of the Twenty-fourth 
district, has after the close of the last session passed from 
the busy scenes of life to the repose and peace of eternal rest ; 
and 

Whereas, His public and official career has distinguished 
him as one of the foremost citizens of our Commonwealth ; 
therefore, 

Resolved, That the Senate give expression to the great loss 
it has sustained in the death of our colleague, whose abilities 
as a legislator and whose industry, grasp of business and 
enthusiasm command the respect of the people of the Com- 
monwealth. 

Resolved, That his great enterprise in the development of 
the mineral resources of the central part of the State and 
in the construction of railroads, and his forcefulness in the 
conduct of all the industrial, commercial and financial matters 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 



with which he was identified, marked him as the successful 
man of affairs. 

Resolved, That his zeal in furthering the cause of public 
education, his interest in hospital work and in everything 
tending to the betterment of humanity as shown by his gen- 
erosity in private life- and his contributions to the cause of 
higher education, have erected a monument more enduring 
than can be erected by his contemporaries. 

Resolved, '1 hat the loss to his own community and to his 
many associates is irreparable. The loss to the Common- 
wealth is great, but the greatest of ah is to his own home, and 
we the members of the Senate surviving, tender our condo- 
lence to his family so bereaved and direct that a copy of these 
resolutions duly engrossed and attested be forwarded to his 
widow. 

JESSE S. SHEPARD, 
EDWIN A. IRVIN, 
J. K. P. HALL, 
J. HENRY COCHRAN, 
H. H. CUMINGS, 
JOHN M. SCOTT. 
J. A. STOBER, 
CYRUS E. WOODS, 
JOHN S. FISHER, 
WILLIAM C. SPROUL, 
President Pro Tempore, 
Committee. 



10 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



ADDRESSES. 

Colonel IRVIN. Mr. President: Alexander Ennis Pat- 
ton was born October twentieth, one thousand eight hundred 
and fifty-two, at Curwensville, Pennsylvania, and died there 
on September fifth, one thousand nine hundred and four. 
He and I were related by blood and were also residents of 
the same community. We grew up in the same environment 
and with the like surroundings. Of the ancestry both pater- 
nal and maternal from which we both came, I will only 
venture to say this: They had an honorable and active part 
both in the early struggle for independence and in the later 
civic work, by which a wilderness was transformed into peace- 
ful homes of comfort and plenty. 

He was educated in the schools of his native town, at 
Chester Military Academy and in the historic Academy of 
Phillips at Andover. At the age of nineteen he first started 
in business in Iowa, where he remained for six years, when he 
returned to his native town where he engaged with his 
father in the banking business, which upon the latter's death 
in one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven he con- 
ducted himself, with marked success. With the exception 
of this absence, he had resided in Curwensville all his life. 

I have knowledge of the large business enterprises with 
which he was identified and in the development of which 
he exhibited the great business acumen and capacity which 
distinguished him. He was a large factor in the energy and 
enterprises which is illustrated by the recent rapid growth 
of Clearfield county, and by the phenomenal development of 
the mineral resources of that section of the State. 

He was an active, genuine and efficient friend of the cause 
of education. For a long time he was president of the school 
board of his native town. He was also president of the 
School Directors' Association of the county. For many 
years he had been a member of the board of directors of Dick- 
inson Seminary at Williamsport and of that of Dickinson Col- 
lege at Carlisle. He was a liberal and cheerful patron of the 
cause of higher education, giving thereto frequently and in 
large amounts. 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 11 

He was a man of broad charities. Both at home and 
abroad he was a liberal and intelligent promoter of all organ- 
ized work having for its object the alleviation and uplifting 
of humanity. He was an earnest friend and supporter of 
hospital w'ork. No worthy cause appealed to him in vain. 
In all this commendable endeavor he was a worthy son of an 
honorable sire. Inheriting the business qualities which so 
greatly distinguished his father in life, he also acquired the 
spirit of liberality which so well perpetuates his memory. He 
was wonderfully devoted to his family and found in his home 
life his greatest attraction. 

In the nearer relations of life, in his own home, in the com- 
munity where he lived as a boy and man, in his own county, 
he was beloved and respected and his early death, while in 
the prime of life, with all its great possibilities before him, 
caused the profoundest sorrow of wdiich many of those now^ 
in this hall were witnesses when they joined the large throng 
of sorrowing friends and neighbors gathered at his burial. 
"The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it and 
not the length." 

His place in the Senate was well filled. He soon became 
identified with important legislation, the scope and purpose 
of which his business experience and sagacity well qualified 
him to understand. While his early death has caused sorrow 
everywhere, it is some measure of compensation to know 
that this legislation bears the imperishable impress which 
he gave to it. May w-e be inspired to better work and 
higher achievement by the enthusiasm, the humanity and 
charity which characterized and crowned his career. 

Mr. HALL. Mr. President: Whether the time honored 
custom of pronouncing eulogies on the lives and characters 
of deceased members is a good one, may well be questioned. 
They bring afresh memories of the past, Vvhen time has par- 
tially softened our sulYering and alleviated our sorrows. How- 
ever, this day has been designated for that purpose, and in 
the case of the late Senator Patton, it is surely appropriate 
to permit his fellow members to place upon record their high 
appreciation of his character and usefulness. 

Reared in the county in which he was born, knowing him 



12 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



from youth to manhood, and from manhood until his decease, 
I am in a position to speak of him as he was. 

Alec Patton, as the late Senator was familiarly called, 
came of good stock. During his whole life, he adhered to 
and maintained untarnished the good name and fame of his 
family. 

He lived in a progressive age, one which required a 
strenuous life, nerve, energy and a close attention to business 
to succeed. He made a success of life because he possessed 
all the qualifications necessary to succeed. The abiHty with 
which he conducted his large business interests, the energy 
he displayed, the close attention given, easily place him upon 
the roster of prominent business men of the age. 

Banking, lumber, coal, railroad building, all successful, 
were among the business interests with which he was con- 
nected. 

Honorable and upright, a believer in Christianity, a re- 
ligious man himself, and to use the phrase oft repeated, "one 
of God's noblemen." 

To prove this, one need only to have attended his funeral, 
as I did. His immediate neighbors, men of prominence from 
a distance, hundreds of them, all gathered at his home to pay 
a last tribute. The eulogies pronounced by his friends and 
neighbors would convince any one that no doubt could be 
entertained of the truthfulness of what I have said. 

If anything more were needed, his association with us here 
would be convincing. He who grasped him by the hand 
and looked him in the eye, felt at once that Senator Patton 
was an honest man — always the same, always affable, he was 
still alw^ays trying to do his duty to his party and to the State, 
but his conscience came first. 

We all know we have lost an able legislator. Who will 
next be summoned, we know not. Let us hope whomsoever 
it may be, he will be prepared as I believe Alec Patton was. 
I might talk for hours, and mean no more than I have said — 
Alec Patton was a man ; that covers the whole ground. 

The members of his sorrowing family have my enduring 
sympathy. 

Mr. FISHER. Mr. President, at the request of Senator 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 13 

Cyrus E. Woods, who has been detained at liis home, 1 will 
read the address which he prepared. 

Mr. PRESIDENT. We are here this afternoon to per- 
petuate our testimony of one who was more than a mere 
associate. He was our friend, and it is with bowed heads 
and aching hearts that we now pay tribute to his memory. 

]3eath came so suddenly that it was a long time before we 
could realize that God's voice had spoken, and that never 
in this life should we again see the manly face of Senator 
Patton or grasp his hand in kindly welcome. 

In our official relations here, our battles are fought, and 
lost, or won, among ourselves. The great world outside 
these halls knows little of the motives, or the reasons, or the 
ambitions which actuate us. But in our own little world, 
which we as members of this body constitute, a different char- 
acteristic dominates. We know when the words come from 
the heart, and when they are addressed to the gallery. We 
know \\hen the purpose is rigiit, and we know when it is 
wrong. We know when that purpose is to serve the Com- 
monwealth, and we know when it is to serve only self. Repu- 
tation, therefore, as the outside world gives it, may be but a 
mere bubble, but to be loved and respected by our fellows 
is as tlie Kohinur among gems. 

Senator Patton vras loved and respected by everyone of 
his associates in this body. His unfailing truthfulness, his 
rugged honesty and integrity, his courage, and with all of 
these, his gentleness, bound us to him with bands of steel. 

A few summers ago, while wearily tramping over the 
Glacier des Bossons. which leads to the ascent of Mount 
Blanc, we halted for a moment's rest at a little mound of 
debris, which had been carried down from the moraine above, 
by this sea of ice. On this mound we discovered to our sur- 
prise a little bunch of Alpine flowers. The wind had carried 
the seeds from the depths below, and these seeds had found 
a lodging place, protected from the ice and snow. The 
bright summer's sun had reached them, with its ever warming 
rays, and now flowers blossomed, showing their timid faces, 
courageously and daringly, in the very midst of this frigid 
sea. On all sides was perpetual ice and snow, but they were 
powerless to destroy the bloom and fragrance. 



14 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

It seemed to me that these flowers were typical of the 
friendships we form in political life. Politics is necessarily 
war, and its success means the survival of the politically 
fittest. It is always the Glacier des Bossons, and above and 
beyond is the summit of Mount Blanc calling us on. On all 
sides is perpetual ice and snow, but they are powerless to 
destroy the bloom and fragrance of the friendships we form 
in our efforts to reach the summit of our ambitions. 

Senator Patton is dead. It is the law of our existence that 
those who fight on the skirmish line of life shall fall, but the 
influence of his friendship, and of his sterling character, shall 
live on. They make us thankful to God for our belief in 
immortality. That belief sustains us now, and to this loved 
friend, who has gone before, we say not "good-night," but 
pray that in the better world he may welcome us all with a 
glad "good morning." 

Mr. FOX. Mr. President and my fellow Senators : 

"We toil, we strive, we live in care 
And in the end possess — despair; 
Our sun of youth, of hope, is set, 
And all our guerdon is — regret." 

This was the estimate put upon life by a great Persian 
poet and perhaps it may be true of the lives of some of us, 
but in truth we may say, not so of that of our departed friend. 
Engaged and engrossed as he was in the multitudinous affairs 
about him, he knew not despair; his sun of youth, of hope, 
liad never set ; and when the final summons came to him his 
guerdon was not regret. He lived not for himself alone, his 
life was not circumscribed within so narrow a limit, but he 
lived for those about him. He recognized and welcomed the 
duties and responsibilities he owed not as a man only but as 
a citizen as well and promptly performed them. He not only 
was active in business, in social, in philanthropic, in spiritual 
matters, but he was equally so in guarding the public weal 
and in laboring for the success of our country and the safety 
of her free institutions. He was a potent factor for that 
which was good. He was always actuated by the temper of 
a high minded and honorable man : his policy was always con- 
scientious and straightforward and he could ever be inipHcitly 
trusted. He had an exalted spirit and a magnanimous en- 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 15 



thusiasm for truth and right. He had but one and the same 
high standard in his private and pubhc Hfe and we will do 
well to emulate his example for it teaches to us the duties 
private and public we owe and the better how to discharge 
them. The spontaneous greetings of hearts overflowing 
with joy and gratitude, that he received from those about 
him at his hom.e, here and elsewhere, were manifestations of 
the nobility of his nature. 

His community was benefited by his having lived in it; 
this Senate was made more attractive by his having been one 
of its members ; our Commonwealth was enriched by his citi- 
zenship. 

My fellow Senators, we grieve that we have looked our 
last upon our departed companion. He has been bidden by 
the Master to pass through the gates of death and they have 
been closed upon him, and he is now upon his long and silent 
journey. We are encircled in gloom and we gaze into this 
impenetrable mystery. Our last wish, our last hope, our 
enduring trust, our abiding faith and our fervid prayer is 
that a radiant celestial light may be his beacon and may 
illumine his way to everlasting and never ending glory, peace 
and repose. 

"Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom. 
Lead Thou me on; 

The night is dark, and I am far from home; 
Lead Thou me on; 

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 

The distant scene, — one step enough for me. 

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still 

Will lead me on 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 

The night is gone; 
And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile." 

Mr. SPROUL. Mr. President, I could not let this op- 
portunity pass Avithout paying my humble tribute to a friend- 
ship which I honored and appreciated. I only wish that 
I had the power of speech to do justice to my feelings in 
the loss of Senator Patton. I do not recollect the time 
in my life when the death of an associate came to me as 



16 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

a greater shock. If I had been asked to select the one whom 
I thought the least likely of all of us to be called beyond, 
I think I would have chosen Alexander Patton as the least 
likely to have been called to answer the great final roll call. 
His strong and rugged frame and his physical force were 
such that it seemed that he should have been here for a great 
many years instead of being called from the midst of his career 
to go to the great beyond, and his loss brings to me most 
forcibly the lesson of the uncertainty of life and the debt we 
all owe to the great Master. 

Senator Patton belonged to a race of men who came of that 
sturdy Scotch Irish stock which all over the world has gone 
into new and untried fields and has built empires in the wil- 
derness. 

He lived under our beneficent institutions and I believe 
that this man will rank with our foremost men in any w^alk 
of life. 

I remember, very well, when Senator Patton came into the 
State Senate. I do not know of a man who has come here 
who in his first session made a more favorable impression. 
Plis attention to duty, his independent character and action 
and his desire to be on the right side of the matters which 
were submitted to him for consideration, were very early 
manifested, and I feel safe in saying that they impressed 
themselves upon the actions of this Senate. All his busi- 
ness affairs, his management of railroads, great coal and lum- 
ber industries, banks and manifold interests, did not prevent 
him giving his attention to the better side of human life. He 
did not follow alone the sordid pursuit of gain. Plis interest 
in education, as the resolutions have stated, and in the chari- 
table institutions of the State, was particularly in earnest 
at all times, and his record here on matters which were 
brought up in these directions in the last session will be for 
themselves a monument to his zeal. 

I can well imagine w^hat the loss of a man like Senator 
Patton must have been to the community in which he lived. 
I remember attending a town meeting in Curwensville at 
which our distinguished Senator, his successor, was presiding. 
There was a great outpouring of the people from all parts of 
that western country who came there to express their sym- 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 17 



pathy and regret at the loss of Senator Patton. It can 
easily be realized what his loss must have been to that com- 
munity, and I think I take no liberty in saying that Senator 
Patton's loss was felt almost as keenly in Delaware county, 
where he went to school in the old city of Chester, as it was 
over in Clearfield. Plis loss was felt as keenly everywhere 
in the State, and his is a hard place to fill. 

Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, There have been words 
said here this afternoon in memory of Senator Patton much 
abler and much better suited to this solemn occasion than 
any I could possibly utter, so that it would be presuming for 
me to add anything to what has already been said, and were 
it not for the fact that during the short time I knew him he 
granted me the privilege of his friendship and companionship, 
which to me, a younger man, had a value that I can little 
describe so that I cannot resist saying a few words and placing 
as it were my slight wreath as a tribute to his memory. 

I do not believe in unduly praising men after they have 
died for with that one action of their lives they have nothing 
to do nor any power to control ; we should not hesitate to 
speak in real frank words concerning the deeds and Hves of 
those who have gone so that we may better profit by the 
example of their lives. 

Senator Patton was human with those human character- 
istics which draw one man to another, he had his faults like 
every man must have, but those faults are lost sight of in the 
midst of sterling qualities which went to make up the man. 

It was here in the hall of this Senate that I first knew him 
and came to feel the effect of his remarkable personahty 
which had won so many others before it was my privilege to 
have been intimately associated with him during the short 
time he was a member of this body. It was from him more 
than any other that I learned the value of a manly, honest 
man in public life. Tlis high sense of honor and his sense of 
the trusts imposed upon a public ofificer always stood out 
bright and clear as an example to his fellows. It made us 
ashamed to do a wrong in his presence and acted as a stimu- 
lus to higher and better motives. Senator Patton was a 



18 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

Statesman in the best sense of that word. I do not mean 
he was a Gladstone, a Webster, or a Clay, his star had not 
yet risen to brilliance, yet it shone brightly, bnt there was 
not a man in this Senate who did not feel his influence and 
who in feeling it did not realize he was no ordinary man. 

He served his district and his State, not guided by any 
sordid personal motive, but from the unselfish desire to do 
what was good and right for the people by whom he had 
been chosen to serve, yet withal he had that breadth of mind 
which enables a man to see clearly on all sides of a question, 
and seeing clearly, so to act aright. That is what I mean 
by a statesman, and that is what Senator Patton was. 

Why at a comparatively young and vigorous age he should 
have been taken from us and those more near to him, when 
we seemed to need him most, neither you nor I can question. 
What God rules is right and is for the best, but we do 
know that by his death this State of Pennsylvania has lost a 
noble son, this Senate one of its most manly members and 
we a valued friend. Cannot I but sum up with those words 
of Byron, spoken of an equally noble character, and which 
seems to apply so aptly here : 

"* * * * * * He had kept 

The whiteness of his soul and thus men o'er him wept." 

Mr. DEWALT. Mr. President, "And he gave it for his 
opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two 
blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground, where only 
one grew before, would deserve better of m.ankind and do 
more essential service to his country, than the whole race 
of politicians put together." 

When Dean Swift wrote these words, he expressed a 
whole volume of truth in five lines, and it is by this standard 
that the deeds of all good men should he measured, and if 
this be true what shall the judgment be in regard to the life 
that has so lately passed? After one has listened to the elo- 
quent eulogies which we have heard, there seems little left 
to say, yet all that has been said was in that sad strain, which 
refers to death, while the life so lately ended, and the words 
here spoken convince me "that there is no death, what seems 
so is transition." 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 19 



Our friend still lives, lives in the memory of those who 
loved him, and those who knew him best, loved him most, 
lie lives in the atTection of all those who knew the kindness 
of his heart, and the true nobility of his mind; he lives in 
the example his life gives to others, who are striving as he 
strove, in the path of duty, and of right. He is not dead, for 
his deeds live in this very room, where for so many days he 
took his part with such signal ability. He lives in the record 
he made in the community in which he moved, as an upright 
man, a steadfast friend and a wise counsellor, and as long 
as eyes can read and tongue can speak, this record will not die. 

What a travesty and failure all human life would be, were 
such a life to die ! What good in human effort and achieve- 
ment, if with dissolution there came the end ! 

No, there is transition, not death, and this soul has merely 
left its poor clay house to go to a nobler mansion, there to 
continue, in eternity, the course here begun. And how was 
that course marked? What were its sign manuals? What 
record can those who are left behind inscribe upon the tablet 
\\hich commemorates his course here on earth? Whilst thus 
I ponder, I am reminded of a summer evening when the sun 
was slowly sinking to his bed, in rosy clouds, and all nature 
was preparing for its rest, while sauntering through a New 
England village churchyard, I chanced upon a stone with 
this simple inscription on its face : 

"A lover of his kind, and by his kind beloved." 

Many monuments of bronze and lofty marble have 1 seen, 
tablets and monuments commemorative of the deeds and 
virtues of the great departed, and yet none of these have 
ever appealed to me as did this quaint and touching tribute 
to the memory of one, truly good. The quiet of the place, 
its remoteness from the strife and turmoil of the busy world, 
the hallowed associations, all made the time and scene one 
for meditation, and whilst I studied the w'ords I read, it 
seemed to me that never had I seen a more fitting tribute. 

It is said that the good that men do lives after them, and 
it is equally true that the evil is not forgotten. Death with 
its mantle of charity covers many of the faults of mortal men, 
and that same charity enlarges the good which these men do. 



20 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

How fitting would this same inscription be if placed at the 
resting spot of him, whose death we to-day are met to mourn ? 
How true it is that he was "a lover of his kind, and by his kind 
beloved." When the startling report was given that Senator 
Patton had died, grief in the community in which he was so 
well known was universal. It can be truthfully said that 
no one uttered any words but those of sorrow. 

The Latins in the days of old had a proverb which ran thus : 
"Of the dead, say naught but good." That admonition was 
not needed here, for none could say any evil. That this man 
was a paragon is not claimed. He was very human. Like all 
men he had his faults, but his virtues were so many and his 
failings so few, that when his loss was known only the former 
were thought of and the latter quite forgotten. 

The adversities of fortune and the bitterness of fate, often- 
times, in many men, change the milk of human kindness to 
bitter gall. This man, like others, met the cruel shafts of 
fate, and yet that warm generous heart was always throbbing 
with kindness and sympathy for the ills of others. It was 
his greatest pleasure to forget his own sorrows in the pity 
that he had for those who suffered. Somewhere in the 
Great Book it is said, "Charity covereth a multitude of sins." 
Had this man been the vilest of sinners, his charity would 
have been great enough to hide all his faults. 

How often have you heard it said, since that poor body 
was laid to rest, "he was my friend?" How often have you 
heard in tones of deep regret, "he helped me when I most 
needed help?" His sympathetic nature made him the con- 
fidant and advisor of many; their troubles, their cares, their 
difficulties, became his burden; and upon his honor and high 
sense of duty, those who sought his advice could always rely. 
His word was as good as his bond. It required no paper 
writing as evidence of an agreement with this man. His sim- 
ple aye was quite sufficient. 

You have heard of the ability and sterling honesty of 
our friend. There have been recited to you his achievements 
as a citizen, and public officer, in various stations, and you 
have been told, how, in every one, he met every demand. 
His patience, modesty and simple way of life have been all 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 21 

told to you. How, with all the honors an appreciative com- 
munity, irrespective of politics, could give to him, he still 
lived the quiet, unassuming gentleman, whose daily walk and 
conversation we all knew, and so much respected. The no- 
bility and purity of his mind was inherited. He canae from 
that good revolutionary stock that lived in the time that 
tried men's souls. His forefathers were those who were ever 
quick to see the right, and to follow that sight with proper 
action. Taught in the school of adversity, that life's burdens 
are grievous, they and he were quick to sympathize with 
others in distress, and to advise those who in their opinion 
seemed to need it. 

Some one has wisely said, "nothing is given so profusely 
as advice," and another wiser still "the most difficult thing is 
to know one's self, and the easiest to advise another." But 
when the advice and sympathy take practical shape in the 
way of substantial aid, then the test of true friendship comes, 
and it can be truthfully said that this man's sympathy and 
advice were not mere lip-service. With the words came 
also the sympathetic hand; not empty, but full for all needs. 

Do you wonder then that v^e mourn him, and yet say, "he 
is not dead; that there is no death, and what seemed so is 
mere transition?" Kindly deeds, quietly done, may not be 
as striking as great learning, or political acumen or lofty sta- 
tion, but they rear in the hearts of those who know them 
a monument more enduring than the pyramids which still 
stand to mark Egypt's fall. 

How fortunate for all that this life and the course it ran 
was appreciated by those who knew it; and doubly so that 
we are all so willing to testify to this great worth, at its end. 

When the mother of the poet Burns was taken to Edin- 
Inirgh to see the monument erected in honor of her great son, 
she said, "Aye, Robbie, ye asked them for bread, and they 
hae gien ye a stone." Her son Robbie was the sweetest 
singer in the English world, the poor man's poet, the song- 
ster of the home and fireside, and vet whilst he was sinsfing' 
some of his sweetest lays, he scarce had bread to eat, and 
neither hearth nor hoine. The ingratitude of that people 



22 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



to one who was their tenderest minstrel was enough to sadden 
other hearts as well as that of Burns' mother. 

But to this one, the faithful public servant, the successful 
business man, the kind gentleman, and above all, the good 
friend, we, and an appreciative community, have given recog- 
nition of his worth by just reward, and now, with sorrowing 
voice and tear-dimmed eyes, we erect in our hearts that monu- 
ment of love and gratitude w^hich shall perish only when we 
no longer live. What higher tribute could we, as fellow- 
Senators pay him than this? 

All men of proper spirit love success, and strive to achieve 
it ; and it may be, that in the struggle, some who are not so 
successful as their fellows, by reason of their failure, become 
en\ious. The truly great nature has nothing of this, and 
rejoices most when its success is like that of others. 

This man also struggled for what he deemed success, and 
in his day had thereof full measure. Disappointments he 
met, failures, no doubt, often came. Like all of us, he some- 
times saw others reap the harvest ^^'hich he had sown, and 
yet how true it is, that none ever heard from his lips one bitter 
word of complaint or envy. Truly, in this man's veins there 
ran the milk of human kindness. High in his ideals, inher- 
ently honest, and well grounded in the principles of broad 
humanity by his early training, he was one in whom the 
people could reliantly confide. 

How many there are of whom it can well be said, they are 
not builders but wreckers. The delight of many men seems 
to lie in pulling down, instead of building up. They thrive 
best in disorganization ; they fatten upon loot, and revel in 
discord. How different the nature of this man was. With 
his mind, his heart and his purse, he was always first to aid 
in building up. His was not a destructive genius, it was con- 
structive, and this not only for him.self, nor where his interests 
were concerned, but where the public weal, and the good of 
all was most apparent. 

How many enterprises which tended toward the good of 
all did he foster? How many poor and deserving young 
men did he aid? How great was his sympathy and generous 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 23 

conduct to all those who needed help? Those who knew 
him best, can this best tell. 

In his life, that phrase which we have so often heard, and 
which by Divine command was given, "Love thy neighbor 
as thyself," was fully exemplified. 

It may be true in some instances that the selfish man is 
most successful in the acquisition of this world's goods, but 
how slight is his recompense, even though he have all the 
wealth of the Indies, as compared with that of the man of 
whom it can be truthfully said "he lived for others, and not 
for himself alone." 

I have said that this man was very human. Had he been 
without faults, he would have been divine, but his very faults 
were lovable. \Miere, in your recollection can you recall 
a better companion or truer friend than this, our late brother? 
Quick in his sympathies, loving in his disposition, open and 
truthful in his nature, he was a man without guile. He wore 
no mask ; his face was as open as the brightness of the day. 

There are some men, if the choice of two ways be given 
them ; one straight, direct and open ; the other, tortuous, 
crooked and hidden, they will choose the latter. It is part 
of their nature to be crooked. Whoever heard that this man 
was aught but straight ? 

But, why, my friends, should I recount to you the noble 
qualities of this man. There may be many who knew him 
longer than I, but there are few, I think, who knew him better, 
and were I to prolong these remarks, I could but repeat what 
3'OU all know, and what so many of you have said, far better 
than I can say it. His race is run ; his strife is done, cut off 
in the prime of his life, in the very noon of his day, it seems 
a cruel fate that met him. 

But all life is like a voyage — with sails full set and weather 
calm, our bark is started; no boisterous waves, nor sullen 
clouds threaten the journey, and yet, e'er that fair vessel 
has passed beyond the sight of shore, the storm may come, 
and with its coming, those waves, before so calm and peaceful, 
those clouds so light and airy, may change to angry seas, 
and tempestuous storms, and with that change may come 
engulfment. 



24 MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

It is better thus, or else it were not so, for however little 
faith we may have, experience teaches us that "whatever is,, 
is right r and the great problem for all, is not how to die 
right, but how to live right; to live a seemly life, for at the 
end of that life there comes what some call death, and others 
name transition, and the result of all life teaches that "if 
death were not, there would be nothing on earth more mis- 
erable than man." A man's life work may soon be forgotten 
by the unthinking, but those whose memories are not ephe- 
meral, will remember the good deeds and the kindly acts that 
have been done, and in truth, it can be said, that the life work 
is remembered when the laborer is forgotten. 

This man's life teaches, above all. that it pays to lead a 
seeml}' life. His example brings to mind, the words of 
Goethe : 

"Woulds't thou fashion for thyself a seemly life? 
Then fret not over what is past and gone; 
And spite of all thou may'st have lost behind, 
Yet act as if life were just begun; 
What each day wills the day itself will tell; 
Do thine own task, and be therewith content; 
What others do, that shalt thou fairly judge; 
Be sure that thou no brother-mortal hate, 
Then all beside leave to the Master Power." 

When the dead Senator's friends and neighbors gathered 
to pay their last respects, all noticed the wealth of beauty in 
floral decoration that was strewn about his bier. Had these 
blossoms numbered thousands, they would not have been too 
many to voice the regrets of those he left ; had their fragrance 
been undying and their bloom forever fresh, they could have 
been no sweeter or brighter than the love in which we held 
him. With the immortal poet, we all can say : 

"His life was gentle and the elements 

So mixed in him. that nature might stand up, 

And say to all the world, this was a man." 

The PRESIDENT. The knowledge of what is to come 
and to look at the dial of the clock admonishes the Chair that 
he must be brief. I w'ould like to bring and lay a little red 
wreath of love upon the memory of Senator Patton. I have 



HON. ALEXANDER E. PATTON. 25 

learned to-day how you loved him. I think I knew him 
well. He was an elegant gentleman and yet one of those 
forcible and honorable, high character American citizens 
to whom Pennsylvania owes to-day her prestige and power 
among the Commonwealths of the world. 

On the question, 
Will the Senate agree to the resolutions? 

They were unanimously agreed to. 




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